Procedural Information BulletinNo. 119

for the sitting period 20-30 October 1997

3 November 1997

WITNESS ORDERED TO APPEAR

While the Privileges Committee is to investigate whether the
Attorney-General improperly interfered with a witness by dissuading
the Australian Law Reform Commission from presenting a submission
to the Joint Committee on Native Title (see Bulletin No. 118, p 1),
steps were taken to ensure that neither the Commission nor the
committee were impeded. On 22 October 1997 the Senate ordered its
Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee to meet and directed
the President of the Commission to appear before the committee and
to give evidence on the Native Title Amendment Bill. The committee
duly met and the witness duly appeared, and so the evidence which
the Attorney-General was accused of trying to suppress was
provided. (See also under Privilege, below.)

PRIVILEGE

A further accusation against the Attorney-General was raised in
relation to the matter of the Australian Law Reform Commission and
the Native Title Amendment Bill.

In the course of defending himself in the House of
Representatives, the Attorney-General disclosed two documents of
the Joint Committee on Native Title which had not been authorised
for release by the committee. This apparent unauthorised disclosure
of committee documents was raised as a matter of privilege. In
ruling on the matter on 23 October, the President pointed out that
the Senate cannot inquire into the conduct of a member of the House
of Representatives, other than a minister acting in that capacity,
or into anything done in the course of proceedings in the House of
Representatives. The motion to refer the matter to the Privileges
Committee, which was passed on 27 October, therefore required the
committee to inquire into any unauthorised disclosure by persons
other than House of Representatives members who are not ministers
and other than in the course of proceedings in the House of
Representatives.

No sooner was this matter referred to the Privileges Committee
than another allegation of unauthorised disclosure of committee
documents was raised. It was alleged that signatories to the
minority report of the Joint Committee on Native Title had
disclosed that report, including at a press conference, before the
presentation of the report to either House. This matter was
referred to the Privileges Committee on 29 October.

ORDERS FOR PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS

An order for production of documents was passed on 27 October in
relation to the awarding of a consultancy to study waterfront
reform. The government produced a document in response to the order
and promised to seek the concurrence of other parties to the
production of further documents, but claimed public interest
immunity in relation to a report on the subject. The grounds of the
claim included commercial confidentiality and the safety of
respondents to the consultant's study. Senator O'Brien, the author
of the motion, wrote to the minister asking for further details of
the claim, but received a response which did not enlarge on the
stated grounds. A government statement was made on the matter on 29
October, and there for the time being it rests, with Senator
O'Brien considering his options for attempting to enforce further
disclosure.

The matter of importation of chicken meat, which has caused
considerable disputation over a considerable period, was the
subject of an order for documents on 30 October. The order calls
for documents relating to quarantine studies, and has a deadline of
12 November for their production.

LEGISLATION AMENDED, REJECTED

The Workplace Relations Amendment Bill 1997, relating to unfair
dismissal provisions, was rejected at the second reading on 21
October, thereby, to the delight of commentators, at last providing
the government with the first stage of a double dissolution
"trigger".

Another bill in the same area, the Workplace Relations and Other
Legislation Amendment Bill 1997, was extensively considered and
amended on 23 and 27 October.

The Social Security and Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment
(Family and Other Measures) Bill 1997 was further considered and
amended on 20 October.

The Charter of Budget Honesty Bill 1996, which is designed to
carry out the government's pledge of fiscal transparency, was
extensively amended on 27 October, with amendments relating to the
costing of parties' election promises causing the most
disputation.

Amendments made to the Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Bill 1997 on
30 October prevent the commencement of part of the bill until two
states have held a public inquiry into river flows affected by the
Snowy Mountains Scheme, and prevent the Commonwealth from disposing
of its share of the Snowy Hydro Company without the approval of the
Parliament.

The matter of telecommunications regulation again arose in the
legislative context with the Telecommunications Legislation
Amendment Bill 1997, which was amended on 30 October in relation to
negotiations between carriers and parties affected by
installations.

DELEGATED LEGISLATION

The Regulations and Ordinances Committee took the relatively
unusual step on 22 October of presenting a special report on a
particular piece of delegated legislation. This related to the
absence from a set of regulations of appropriate external review of
the merits of decisions to be taken under the legislation, a
problem which could not be cured by the disallowance of the
particular regulations concerned. The committee reported that the
Attorney-General and the Administrative Review Council were of the
view that an external review should be provided, but that the
Assistant Treasurer was obdurate in refusing to make such a
provision. The committee undertook to monitor amendments of the
regulations concerned "with a view to correcting this breach of its
principles", which presumably means that it will look out for
amendments which could be disallowed as a way of bringing about the
desired change.

The importance of the independent advisers to the legislative
scrutiny committees was marked on 20 October, when the Senate
referred to the death of Emeritus Professor Douglas Whalan, who had
been adviser to the Regulations and Ordinances Committee for 15
years and a familiar and trusted figure to senators and Senate
committees generally.

VACANCIES

The surprise resignation of Senator Kernot, announced on 20
October, led to speculation about the balance of numbers in the
Senate, but an agreement was soon struck to pair the consequent
vacancy, which was filled by the swearing in of Senator Andrew
Bartlett, appointed by the Queensland Parliament, on 30 October
1997.

This occasion also drew attention to the number of senators
filling casual vacancies (now 15), and to the way in which section
15 of the Constitution, as amended in 1977, in effect partially
entrenches proportional representation by ensuring that casual
vacancies do not upset the balance of party numbers as determined
by the electors for the remainder of all senators' terms.

COMMITTEES

The Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee received a
significant special reference on 30 October with the reference to
the committee of the Crimes Amendment (Forensic Procedures) Bill
1997. This bill is designed to regulate the forensic treatment of
persons as part of law enforcement investigations, for example, by
the taking of blood tests. The reference asks the committee to
consider the probative value and relevance to questions of fact
before courts of the procedures prescribed in the bill.